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Design Tips
Bruce Archambeault, Associate Editor

W elcome to Design Tips! In this issue, Colin Brench

from HP gives us a discussion on EMC Considera-
tions for Differential Lines and Cables. Very high
speed signals now use so-called differential signaling to improve
signal integrity over long, lossy transmission lines and cables.
tion in this section. Ideas should not be limited by anything
other than your imagination! Please send these submissions to
[email protected]. I’ll look forward to receiving many
“Design Tips!” Please also let me know if you have any com-
ments or suggestions for this section, or comments on the
The impact of these high speed signals on EMC performance can Design Tips articles.
be significant. Colin is well known through the IEEE/EMC Soci- Also in this issue, we will be adding “Design Tid-Bits” at
ety as a previous Distinguished lecturer, co-author of the book the end of the Design Tips Article. These Tid-Bits are intend-
titled ‘EMI/EMC Computational Modeling Handbook”, and for ed to be a very short description of EMC design best practices
his many technical presentations, papers, and seminars. and cover a wide range of EMC design issues. Please send me
Please send me your most useful design tip for considera- your contributions to [email protected].

Design Tip – EMC Considerations for

Differential (Balanced) Lines
Colin Brench

T here has been a rapid growth in the use of differential

signaling on pairs of conductors for high speed links. A
differential line is usually used synonymously with a
balanced line; however, there are some serious differences
between a fully balanced line and one that is simply used dif-
path. Initially the device that drives the link typically does so
with respect to the reference plane of the printed circuit board;
that is, a pair of signal ended signals is generated (see Figure 1).
To further understand the signal and return current, consider the
PC traces used to connect the driver to an interface connector as
ferentially. There are also a number of practical implementa- shown in Figure 2. From even a casual glance at the trace geom-
tion effects that must be carefully considered. These can have etry it can be seen that there is much tighter coupling between
a major impact on EMC performance. the signals and the reference plane than between the two signals.
First, we should consider the reason for using differential
signaling. Over the years, signaling voltage levels have dropped
from 12V or so down to one volt or less, and this has come with
an increasing sensitivity to noise. The effects of DC or low fre-
quency offsets, that can occur between the transmit and the
receive points, are greatly reduced by the common mode rejec-
tion of a differential receiver. For EMC, a primary purpose is to
cancel the fields created by the current on one conductor with
the return current in the adjacent one. This minimizes radia-
tion and reduces the susceptibility to external fields, and so can
eliminate the need for an external shield.
A fully balanced scheme requires no separate ‘ground’ return;
it is a two wire system. In reality, not only is a separate ground
return not required, it is not wanted; the presence of any closely Figure 1--Schematic of a typical differential driver
coupled conductors to a differential pair is a complicating factor
that in many cases will result in the generation of unwanted, com-
mon mode current. Some interfaces, such as those for Ethernet,
use only two wires and are balanced through the use of a trans-
former or BALUN (balanced to unbalanced network). Unfortu- Figure 2--Cross section of PC trace
nately, in many cases the physical implementations of many dif-
ferential links are not simple, two wire systems, but rather are At the point where the differential signal transitions from
comprised of two, independent, single ended circuits. Certainly the reference plane to a cable, there is a discontinuity in any por-
these circuits switch in opposite polarities, but primarily they are tion of signaling current that is not perfectly mirrored in the
not a balanced differential signaling scheme. pair of conductors. For the currents to be equal and opposite, as
To evaluate any EMC risk that may be present, it is essential needed for balance, the following features must exist:
to understand all the current paths associated with the signal 1. the amplitude in both circuits must be identical

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emcsNLspring07_2ndhalf.qxd 5/31/07 10:44 AM Page 68

2. the load impedance must be identical

3. there can be no skew between rising and falling edges
4. the rise and fall time must be identical
5. the physical trace routes must be not only equal in length
overall, but also balanced along their entire length. (End
compensation corrects the delay for signal quality but can
allow a small imbalance along the conductor length.)
6. coupling to any other conductors must be equal
If the amplitudes of the two signals are not equal, there will
be a common mode current in the reference plane having the
same frequency content as the intended signal. Figure 3 shows
the common mode current generated due to skew between the
two lines, and this current will contain frequencies that are
higher than the base data.
In a shielded differential pair, there is coupling between each Figure 3--Effect of skew on third conductor current
conductor and the shield; the inside of this shield becomes the
third conductor that carries any common mode current due to
imbalance in the pair. (Unfortunately it will also introduce
some imbalance into the pair!) It is therefore necessary to treat
a shielded pair as a three wire system and provide a low imped-
ance path from the driver to the receiver, across the PC board
and through the cable. Failure to do this will cause a disconti- Figure 4--Connecting a three wire differential line
nuity in the current path and result in the possibility of excess
radiated emissions. This is shown in Figure 4.
In many cases there is an overall EMI shield used to mini-
mize susceptibility to ESD or to further minimize radiated
emissions. For this shield to meet its intended function, it
must be well bonded to the system chassis so that external
EMI is not introduced into the system. This shield should not
be carrying any component of the intended signal. However, Figure 5--Connection of the EMI shield
a path for any current leakage through the shield of the dif-
ferential pairs to the inside of the overall EMI shield must be coupling into the link. These paths do not happen by accident;
provided. in a circuit diagram, ‘ground’ is ‘ground’ everywhere, and there
Attention to the details of all paths of the intended differen- is no physical information present. It is, therefore, necessary to
tial signaling current and the unintended common mode cur- consider the physical implementation of the circuit to ensure it
rent is a fundamental way to control EMI and minimize noise performs as expected. EMC

Design Tid-Bit
Small amounts of in-pair skew as well as small amounts of rise/fall time mismatch in differ-
ential signals are unavoidable. These small amounts of imbalance can create common-
mode noise that is close to the same amplitude as the differential signal itself! Consider
differential signals to be single ended for EMC purposes and design an unbroken return
current path for the common-mode signals. — Bruce Archambeault

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